Both sides have promotion ambitions, so who were the biggest winners and losers from the game?
Pride
For the city of Sunderland, this game offered the rare opportunity to defeat fierce rivals Newcastle twice in seven days after the men’s team won 2-1 in the Premier League thanks to a late Brian Brobbey strike last Sunday.
Returning to the Stadium of Light for the first time since that match on Tyneside, fans were in a jubilant mood with around 10,000 packed into the stands to witness the game.
This was also a chance for Newcastle to extend their impressive win streak over the Black Cats, having won every tie since promotion to WSL2.
Tanya Oxtoby’s side were cheered on by around 1,500 travelling fans who would also be looking to avenge the men’s team’s loss last week and get one over Sunderland.
The gaffers
Oxtoby’s first taste of derby day could not have started worse after Katy Watson’s goal put Sunderland ahead just after the quarter-hour mark and it never really seemed to get going
She warned against ‘playing the occasion’ in the lead up to the fixture, and to an extent this happened. But Newcastle lacked a bit of bite needed to get a proper foothold of the match, despite their dominance on the ball for much of the 65 minutes they trailed.
But some tactical tweaks and substitutions led to an on pitch revival and it was one of those subs, Oona Sevenius, who struck the Australian’s side level.
Mel Reay, however, is a veteran of this fixture now, having taken part in more professional women’s Tyne-Wear derbies than any other manager.
Until Sunday, she had lost them all, with now only one point to show from her clashes agaisnt Newcastle.
Oxtoby is now the third Newcastle manager to face her in the dugout after Becky Langley and interim Claire Ditchburn.
This performance felt much more assured from Sunderland, who understood the assignment to hit their opponents on the break, with Katie Kitching operating as a lynchpin between attack and midfield.
Dented WSL chances for Magpies
Newcastle came into the game knowing they had to win to stand a chance of going ahead of Crystal Palace and into the playoff spot.
For a team with ambitions of playing top-tier football as soon as possible, losing points at this stage of the season is undoubtedly damaging and leaves them three points adrift of the playoffs after Palace beat league leaders Charlton.
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It is especially untimely given the peculiarity of this season in particular. For this season only, three teams could be promoted as part of the WSL’s expansion. Two will go up automatically, then the third placed team will have a playoff against the third bottom team in the WSL.
The point leaves Sunderland seven points behind the playoffs and with a lot of work to do heading into the last three games of the campaign.
It will mean however, that the Black Cats do not have to look over their shoulders for those three games, having secured their position in the league next season mathematically.